On a Walk Home ~ Into the Candy Store

Usually when I leave my writing group, I head straight home. Have to pass right by the candy store! My focus went askew. I ‘needed’ more licorice at home. Not everyone favours licorice especially the delicious black licorice but that is their loss. Filled with candies of all sorts, I didn’t know where to start. I found several jars of licorice lining a shelf making it difficult to choose. My favourites are the cigars or pipes of soft black licorice with the little red candies at the end. The soft Australian black licorice is good too, but none were in the store.I did balance all that licorice with two bananas and some chocolate. A store clerk came to my rescue. Describing those favourites of mine she asked if any were sweet or salty. Salty? Never tried it. So she showed me: right there in front of me were these little bags of a mix of different licorices - sweet and salty. I’m willing to be brave!

“What she did have were Bertie Bott’s 

Every Flavour Beans, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, 

Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties,Cauldron Cakes, 

Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange 

things Harry had never seen in his life.”

~ J.K.Rowling

Shop and Run

The mall was packed with shoppers thronging into the mall all the old and young blocked my mission and destination; Santa photo shoots with kids, moms and dads, photographer, director; Christmas music barely heard above the noise.

I was not to be deterred!

Bundled with all things winter,

I dared to stop and regroup

Toque and mitts stashed in my cart

I navigated toward my treasures

for just a few more decorations 

so I followed my list ~ almost ~

then retraced my steps

past the milling crowds,

and Santa posed and posing

til I approached my welcome escape. 

Coat, toques and mitts back on

the noise and bustle of the mall behind me,

the frosty breath of bracing, cold air

revived me for the short bus ride home. 

“Xmas Trivia: Before it became a major shopping holiday, 

Christmas is believed to have had a “religious” meaning.” 

~ Andy Borowitz

On an Afternoon Walk - Down the Street

Stepping out,

grocery bag on my shoulder, 

journal tucked inside

I wandered past the grocery store and went three blocks too far.

Errands are those must do things with opportunities to look around

so down the street I followed my feet to 13th Ave Coffee Shop for my lunch, coffee and a write.

Then it was time to move on home

past hair salons, an ice cream and candy store, a flower shop, fish store, butcher shop, a pub, chocolate shop, and so much more ~ oh yes, and a grocery store ~ errand was complete.

“We often miss opportunity because 

it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

~ Thomas A. Edison

 

Some Call it Clutter

Escaped the cull.

We pack and carry with us so much stuff. Big items of furniture, clothes and toys are obvious and very heavy. There was that Kirby vacuum cleaner that did everything that I bought 30 years ago. It was excellent for rug shampooing as well as vacuuming. Until two years ago, I carried it with me from Texas to Kelowna to Victoria. Ruthlessness, seldom a quality I embrace, met my heavier, slower friend. Informed that parts were fewer and farther away, it remained in the closet. Before coming to Regina, my faithful friend went to a Junk collector. I had to close my eyes for that one.

It’s the little things that are more interesting. For instance, why have the bottle brushes been relegated to the back of the junk drawer? And will I really use all the little yellow twist ties from at least three packages of sandwich bags? How long have those batteries been in that drawer? Do they even have power any longer? (They are still all good) What about the two rolls of doggie doo-doo bags? I haven’t had a dog for absolutely years, and my grand-dogs I seldom see anymore. But you never know, I might need those bags again ~ some day. I found only one key. No idea what it was for, but it looked like a key to a door? Maybe? There is plant food and lightbulbs, scotch tape (in three separate drawers), and brown furniture markers.

Each of these big and little things has had their own purpose. A future need, a future project, a back up or maybe just a want to. Throwing things out has never been easy for me. Learned behaviour? I suppose so. At the same time, I don’t want to just store things. My great-aunt Elsie told me that having something just to store didn't make sense. Some advise I've tried to follow, not always successfully.

In this disposable world, it has been too easy to collect stuff and then store it. In junk drawers, basements, closets or, sad to say, acres of storage units. Learning to not save so much stuff has been an ongoing challenge. Divesting myself of pieces of my life has never been easy ~ except maybe for those little bundles of yellow twist ties.

“For it is not merely the trivial which clutters 

our lives but the important as well.”

~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

A Certain Time

Time marches on ~

as petals dry and fall

Storing kernels of food

for the barren winter

Hope remains for 

seeding the future.

“Time, Time, Time

See what’s become of me,

While I looked around for 

my possibilities.”

~ Paul Simon

*edited 04Nov2023

A Lovely 'Day Off'

A crisp morning under

Trees of gold and red

A little cafe across from

Fisherman’s Wharf park

A toy store nestled in 

Oak Bay Village

The sun shone brilliantly on 

a lovely November Monday.

“Lovely days don’t come to you, you should walk to them.”

~ Rumi

A Change of Pace

Farmer's Market in North Carolina 2012

Up early and on the road

to a lovely small community

via a busy winding highway.

Early morning sun 

burning dew from the air.

A walk around a few blocks

while my brother did an errand.

Stores still closed, 

proprietors outside sweeping sidewalks, beginning their day.

A Farmer’s Market,

stalls closed on Mondays,

displayed a garden 

with straight rows of vegetables

green and quiet in the sun.

Long meandering study of dusty antiques 

when Larry and I met up again:

A brass desk ornament with double ink wells!

Old writing desks for child or adult

Rocking chairs ~ tried on for size and proper creak

Props for portraits

tall stools with rungs to pose on

old hats

ancient ball gloves

and so much more!

Home for a quick write then 

out with friends 

for a visit and dinner.

Stopped at the farm on the way 

back for more family visit with 

the nocturnal gardeners and their headlights.

No photo could suffice for the whole day

except this rose from the Farmer’s Market

A single rose can be my garden...a single friend, my world.

 ~ Leo Buscaglia